Notes and Editorial Reviews

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

Michael Korstick does not see recordings as “snapshots” that could be replaced at any time simply because some new aspect in the music might be considered. When he records a work, he is attempting to realize an ideal: an ideal against which he would gladly be measured in the long term. With that in mind, OehmsClassics now releases a new volume in this cycle. It contains the Waldstein sonata, which Korstick recorded in 2003, and for which he received euphoric reviews. The other works on this CD, however, the Sonata op. 54 and the “Appassionata” op. 57, are the pianist’s first recordings of these works. Here again, Korstick’s uncompromisingRead more exploration of the boundaries of the possible – i.e. following Beethoven’s directions to the performer to the letter – is superb.

The program presents a fascinating cross section of Beethoven’s sonatas. Two of the great classics of the piano repertoire, the Waldstein Sonata and the Appassionata, frame a relatively small-format work that is often underestimated due to its immediate proximity to the neighboring monoliths, but which is amazing in its own right!Read less